Oú Est La Crumpet?

eThe loony left in France has played havoc with the economy under the patronage and leadership of President Hollande, who will soon be consigned to oblivion as the French election looms high in the coming few months. Nicholas Sarkozy, who is now waiting in the wings, is probably as bad if not worse than his predecessor, assuming that he will manage to unseat him.

It transpires that Sarkozy during his term of office had the cheek to invite his cabinet to admire his wife Carla Bruni’s cleavage, and dubbed himself ‘as the poor man’s Tom Cruise’ according to a book published recently. Patrick Buisson was once one of Sarkozy’s closest aides and his memoirs have landed with a thump on the ex-president’s campaign to return to the Elyseé Palace.

In the book, Buisson describes Sarkosy as a shallow narcissist who sold ‘a Ponzi pyramid scheme’ of power and deluded himself that his love life enchanted the public. Instead, claims Boisson, many saw it ‘as the phallic triumphalism of a retarded adolescent who exalted in the power of having a trophy woman on his arm’. In one cabinet meeting, Sarkozy went into raptures about his wife’s chest and invited his ministers to do likewise.

Boisson claims Sarkozy also told his inner circle: ‘I know I am the poor man’s Tom Cruise… the born leader was in reality a fragile seducer subjugated by his conquests; a fake tough guy permanently dependent on affection; an unhappy soul yearning to be loved, living under the domination of an empire of women,’ Boisson wrote. The former advisor fell out of favour when Sarkozy lost the Presidency to Francois Hollande after just one term in 2012.

Sarkozy’s aides condemned the book La Cause du Peuple as a spiteful act of betrayal. Polls recently gave Alain Juppé, 71, Sarkozy’s moderate conservative rival, 40% support among right-leaning voters against 32% for Sarkozy, in the first round of primary elections on 20, November. Juppé is a former prime minister with a reputation for low-key competence.

Sarkozy, however, has already suffered a succession of blows. Two former security officials, Bernard Squarcini and Christian Flaesch, were placed under judicial examination after allegations of influence peddling. Investigators were also handed the dairy of a former Libyan oil minister who recorded a meeting to discuss funding for Sarkozy’s 2007 election campaign with the spy chief, Abdullah Senussy and Bashir Saleh, Colonel Gaddafi’s private secretary. Sarkozy’s aides dismissed the story as bogus

The forthcoming presidential election in France is likely to be fought extremely hard with no holds barred. Scandals of one sort or another will certainly surface, some of which will indicate how low political standards have fallen throughout the world and France is certainly no exception.

Cherchez la femme will be a prominent factor used by the combatants, but at least with little tangible effect to the electorate, apart from its entertainment value.